Police say teacher admitted to student sex in YouTube case

Riverside, California: Police say a teacher has acknowledged she had a sexual relationship with a teenage student who confronted her years later over the phone and posted the conversation on YouTube.

In a court filing released in California on Tuesday, Detective Roberta Hopewell said 40-year-old Andrea Cardosa told Alhambra police she had a previous sexual relationship with the now-28-year-old woman who made the video.

The officers interviewed Ms Cardosa after the woman sent a link to the video to the principal of Alhambra High School, where Ms Cardosa was an assistant principal. Ms Cardosa resigned that day.

"During the interview, Cardosa admitted to having a sexual relationship with Jane Doe," Detective Hopewell wrote in the papers filed in Riverside County Superior Court seeking Ms Cardosa's arrest.

A woman who wanted to be identified by her first name, Jamie, speaks in front of Alhambra High School in California, where Andrea Cardosa last worked as vice principal of student services. Ms Cardosa is facing 16 counts of sexual abuse.

The declaration sheds additional light on the case that was spurred when the woman, who wants to be known only as Jamie, posted the video on January 17 on YouTube. Within days, the video of the telephone conversation she had with Ms Cardosa about the alleged abuse was seen nearly 1 million times.

In the video, Jamie phones Alhambra High School, where receptionists connect her to a woman who identifies herself as Ms Cardosa.

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"You should be so ashamed and so disgusted with yourself," Jamie says.

"I am. I am," the woman says. "I regret it every day. Every day."

Jamie does not give specifics of the alleged abuse in the video.

Prosecutors charged Ms Cardosa with five counts of aggravated sexual assault on a child and 11 other counts of abuse involving the youth and a second alleged victim who came forward after watching the video.

If convicted of the aggravated sexual assault charges, Ms Cardosa could face a life sentence, prosecutors said.

Her lawyer, Randy Collins, declined to comment on the allegations but said he would challenge the use of the video as evidence since state law requires parties to consent to being recorded.

"These are old, old allegations, and before we get into whether or not the evidence is going to be viable or credible when we get to court, we have to deal with whether this case should even be in court," he said.

The supervising deputy district attorney for Riverside County, John Henry, said he intends to use the video in court.

"Based on my view of the law, I think that there is a very good chance that a judge will find it admissible," he said.

Fifteen counts against Ms Cardosa stem from allegations of abuse between 1997 and 2001 involving the woman who posted the YouTube video.

The statute of limitations does not apply because the five aggravated sexual assault charges carry a life sentence and the other charges meet a handful of specific conditions, prosecutors said.

One count stems from accusations related to the second woman, named Brianna.